WEEKLY ORACLE CARD READING
When I first began this journey of transformation that began 33 years ago and brought me here, I came to it with a lot of ideas of being victimized by life, of the unfairness of the stories perpetuated in my family by real tragedies, and by my own experience. Why would I believe in a better life? I will be honest, I didn’t trust that it was really possible for me. The issues that dogged us convinced me that life was hard, and it would be hard and when it didn’t work out the way I hoped, it was proof that I had done something wrong, and that fate would continue to prove that I was a mistake.
Everything changed when I got sober and began following a specific spiritual program. I began to see the world as alive. I see the world today as ensouled—everything animated with life and Spirit. I don’t see myself as a victim ever. What changed?
Well, it was a number of things I began to do differently—one was attending meditation classes at a Tibetan temple in Toronto frequented by others in recovery who were seeking new ways of living. There was one evening, now indelibly etched in my memory—one of those definitive moments, a turning point in my life when I sat with our teacher after class sharing a moment of hopelessness (which I had less and less but that night I was in some drama about my then-boyfriend.) He turned to me after quietly listening with great patience and said, “You see the hurt, but I see your life is like a diamond, a path of time and great pressure. When you can see the gifts in this, the great value, see what you’re becoming then you will be free.”
I will never forget this, for in that moment I knew that everything I had gone through up to that point, all my suffering, if I was willing to see it as having value, I’d no longer call everything “bad”, nor define myself as a victim of external circumstances. I began to see myself as resilient, brave, courageous, strong and committed, and in all that, I saw hope. I experienced a miracle.
This was the time I came to realize that working to manifest my life wasn’t so simple. It was “both, and”—a combination of clear conscious intent and surrendering to life on life’s terms and working within that fated environment. The form of my desires was not as important as their essence, and although that took a long time for me to understand, it’s the single most important lesson I learned. Life was not always going to be kind but I could cultivate compassion for myself and others, and my job was to show up, and do the internal work if I wanted to see the external change. Of course, the less I resisted hardship, the more it became an opportunity for growth and transformation.
So, do you find yourself getting discouraged sometimes when you commit to working with the Law of Attraction and discovering that it’s not as easy as advertised? Then do you secretly fear you are doing something wrong? Maybe you believe you manifested the current hardship? Maybe you are the cause of the trouble in front of you, or maybe you’re really not getting it because the outcomes you’re focused on are taking way too long?
It’s easy to get way out of alignment if we impose these expectations of perfection and desired timing, including the form of our desire. What if what we want is supposed to show up in a different form altogether? What if our path is temporarily overridden by a larger collective story? What if everything you’re experiencing is giving you an opportunity to discover a greater value, a new perception, and perspective?
Reality creation is not linear. Fundamental consciousness, how we create our world through our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, etc is a really complicated formula, but that doesn’t mean we don’t give it a shot once we know what’s possible when we remain awake. So, what if you could see everything in your life, all the time and pressure, all the flaws and failures as gifts, as ways in which you’ve been shaped like a diamond, shining in strength and beauty?
What changes when you change your mind about what things mean? I’d like to invite you to share your epiphanies of how your perspective changed on your suffering and how that shift changed you. Keep in mind it’s not just the good times and the wins that are valuable, but the sometimes arduous and painful journey along the way, when you think you’re lost that you discover your greatest gifts.
For today, may you “shine bright like a diamond.”
All my love,
